Chapter 100

“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?” - Robert Browning

1955 hours, local time
Saturday, 7 March, 2015
The Chancellery Complex
The City of Haven, The Province of Oregon
The Commonwealth of Haven

“So, it’s a done deal, then. We have signed the Treaty of Santa Clara with the Republic of Orange, which was rubber-stamped with shocking speed by the necessary ratifying body since it had the clear approval of Chairman Robert Wagner, the country’s aged celebrity of a head of state. We have signed the Treaty of Vista with the representatives of San Diego, which is now formally recognized as the San Diego Free State. Its borders now roughly correspond to the former San Diego County, outside of the tribal territories, of course, instead of merely the city. This, however, has the benefit of stabilizing a huge part of the Golden State under the single jurisdiction of an unified, independent nation.

“What else? We have annexed Modesto, Santa Cruz, Redwood City, Santa Clara, Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose, Merced, Stockton, Salinas, Palo Alto, several others ... and the biggest prize, of course. San Francisco. The formal ratification has already taken place and we are due to appear in the San Francisco City Hall with Chairperson Adam Steves and receive his complete capitulation to our rule. I think that once the other cities began caving, the Frisco crew could see the proverbial handwriting on the wall.

“Evidently, this war has cemented and consolidated our status as the hegemon in the Pacific Coast region and especially in the territory of the former state of California. That entity is dead for good, I dare say. It’s still treated as a region in some ways out of habit, but soon, it will become meaningless. Posterity will find it alien that people ever spoke of it as a single unit or anything of the sort. Posterity will find many things that happened in our lifetimes to be rather strange, to be frank.

“About the only area that presents any kind of real strategic menace is that of the city of Pasadena, a city-state and theocratic cult-state that remains recalcitrant. I imagine that some kind of war will have to be fought to bring it to heel, much like Sacramento. Funny how a Mexican cartel puppet state just north of Mexico itself is stabler and has more reasonable leadership than that of Pasadena, once a prosperous and culturally refined community.

“Of course, there are the various other independent cities or city-states of southern California, but they are mostly in a sudden hurry to cut deals with us, as you know. Now that we have treaties with the Republic of Orange and the San Diego Free State, we represent the kind of threat that they simply cannot ignore. We’re right there on their doorstep, after all. They reckon that they can prosper at least somewhat as sovereign microstates, and personally benefit more from the opportunities afforded by political corruption, as long as they don’t have too many wars, so these deals are their best chance.

“They just don’t want to be annexed by anyone, from us to their other neighbors, and especially not the Moonies. They have even talked of forming some kind of association or league or whatever, which is a bit late in the day, all things considered. Talk about burying one’s head in the sand like ostriches, seriously, right?

“That should have been done a long time ago, but they haven’t even gotten a grip on their domestic challenges, such as crime, shortages, and disparity of wealth and poverty. Why would they even contemplate something larger until it was forced upon them for the sake of survival? That requires foresight, something abysmally low in supply in places like southern California. They’re far too petty for that,” Cherry stopped to catch her breath or whatever, not that an immortal being had to do that.

“So, they are content to live in their little bubble of preserving as much of their old lifestyle, their power, their status quo, etc. at any price. How typical of human nature, right? Boy, howdy, they’re in for a rude awakening, since the last one didn’t work for them! It’s gonna be a real shock to the system, no doubt of that.

“Aunt Lydia, how has the progress gone on the conversions in California? We can discuss the other conversions in time, but for now, I’m specifically curious about that,” I asked my aunt, who smiled as she sat there gingerly in her chair since the ass-fucking that I gave her earlier over the kitchen table.

“We’re experiencing significant success, of course. Right now, the percentages in Cascadia, formerly northern California, as you can see, my sweet nephew, vary only from about sixty-five percent Havenite in some counties to seventy-five percent. Given the short amount of time in which this has transpired, this is a massive shift in the religious demographics, of course. The estimated average is approximately seventy percent.

“The remaining percentages for Cascadia are ... let me see, twenty percent Christian in some form or another, five percent atheist and/or agnostic, two percent Jewish, one percent Muslim, one percent New Age, half a percent Buddhist, a quarter percent Hindu, and the remaining quarter of a percent all of the others. That’s a substantial minority in spite of our concerted efforts, but give it time. We will replace or co-exist syncretically with these other faiths in time to the point. The closer that Havenism ... and Schumacher Syndrome, of course, get to these other, newer areas and these communities under our rule, of course, the more converts we will get.

“This, in turn, will cause more and more areas not already under our control to see growth of both Havenism and Schumacher Syndrome. More trade, commerce, travel, tourism, etc. will certainly see the expansion of our church, our movement in other parts of the world. Every consulate, embassy, liaison office, etc. will increase it as well. Imagine the influence and impact that each contact will have on our neighbors. We know how communicable Schumacher Syndrome is, of course.